High blood pressure is a typically asymptomatic condition whereby the force of blood pushing against your artery walls is consistently too high. Over time, this pressure can cause your arteries to restrict and narrow – a process that contributes to heart disease risk. Fortunately, high blood pressure is easily reversible if you make healthy dietary changes.
Evidence from animal and observational studies has linked green tea consumption to a reduction in high blood pressure, although results have been conflicted.
A meta-analysis published in the journal Medicine aimed to conclusively assess the effects of green tea supplementation on measures of blood pressure control.
The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were electronically searched from inception to August 2019 for all relevant studies.
Twenty-four trials with 1697 subjects were included in the meta-analysis.
READ MORE: High blood pressure: The best fruit that can lower your BP that’s not a banana
The health body continues: “Diastolic blood pressure, the bottom number, measures the force your heart exerts on the walls of your arteries in between beats.”
In their concluding remarks, the study researchers said: “Overall, green tea significantly reduced SBP [systolic blood pressure] and DBP [diastolic blood pressure] over the duration of the short-term trials.
“Larger and longer-term trials are needed to further investigate the effects of green tea supplementation on BP control and clinical events.”
What accounts for this effect?
Researchers have discovered that compounds called catechins, found in green tea, relax the muscle that lines blood vessels, which may lead to lower blood pressure.
UK health guidelines advise eating less than six grams (0.2oz) of salt a day, which is about a teaspoonful.
“Eating a low-fat diet that includes lots of fibre, such as wholegrain rice, bread and pasta, and plenty of fruit and vegetables also helps lower blood pressure,” notes the NHS.
The health body continues: “Aim to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day.”
That’s five portions of fruit and veg in total, not five portions of each.
